I'm new to Fluther. Why do people follow others, and how do they follow them?

When you follow someone, the questions they ask show up in your “questions for you” folder. That’s really the only benefit of following someone (other than having a quick way to find them from your profile).

You click on the persons name which brings you to their profile page. In the right hand corner is a button that says Follow and another that says Message. To follow, just click follow. To send a fellow jelly a private message, hit message and write in the little block on their profile page. Then click on send.
I follow people to let them know I like them, agree with them or just think they are really nice.

Yes, click on their avatar picture and you can read their bio or interests and then click on “follow.”

You choose to follow those that have common interests or, you have simply come to like through their sharings. :-)

I follow people when I find them interesting. I want to know when they ask questions, and if I follow them their questions come to my Questions for You as @Seaofclouds pointed out. It also makes it easier to “share” questions with them. For instance, there is a question about rental property right now, and Judi has been a property manager for years, so I clicked share on the question, and then when I start to type in ju.. the field gives me options to autofill because I follow her. I have some Christian jellies I share a lot of questions with, because I value their opinions and candor, and sometimes on fluther it is harder to come by answers from evangelical Christians. We have some doctors I share questions with too, when those types of questions come up,

People follow people they respect, and they only respect people they like.

I follow no one and I respect a lot of people here. It’s a good system that works for me.

I follow @gailcalled in not following anyone. And in mentioning that, too, obviously.

Thank you all so much!! Fluther is such an amazing concept, and so many of the people involved are interesting, informative, lovely! Lucky me for finding you guys! By just doing a search on veganism, I found an interest, and interact with the touch of my fingers. Wow!

One thing I do notice, I tend to be a little compulsive with food and have to watch it, and I could be with this site, and if I have too many people to follow, well….........: )

@comity It is addicting. :). But, now you are part of the collective resistance is futile.

OK @JLeslie And away I go!

I follow non trolls.I follow in case one day I’m super curious about what people who I believe had good logical answers are up to.

There can be several reasons why people follow others. Some do it because they conform with their viewpoints, others do it to try to fit in, some may be looking for lurve and others may be interested in that particular person’s posts/questions. People with more lurve are more likely to be followed than those with less lurve.

Fluther is the same as other Q&A/discussion sites but the slang used is different, that’s all. Followers on Fluther are the same equivilent as friends on Sodahead and the reasons for doing so on each website are generally the same as here.

I don’t know other discussion sites, Sodahead etc. I just learned to use the computer and email, then ebay, when I retired 10 years ago. This is my first exposure to something like this. I’m really enjoying it though. Such interesting people!!! I’m not that interested in lurve although it does seem to come up often, but I like to see different viewpoints and of course the ones that conform with mine at this stage of the game, I especially enjoy.

@comity Part of the reason lurve comes up is because we like the to say the new words we have come up with, just to hear ourselves speak flutherease. Many many Star Trek references come up, hope you are a Trekky, along with other jargon. Lurve isn’t just points, it is a word of affection, admiration, and more.

I am not on any other discussion sites either. From what I understand this is one of the best because the moderators get rid of the BS and any nasty personal attacks. The level of knowledge is incredible here, I learn so much.

@comity: “Lurve,” was attributed (accurately) to a line of Woody Allen’s in Annie Hall. , said by Alfie. It became part of the Fluther lexicon.

From the movie A heightened term to suggest more-than-love

“Love is too weak a word for what I feel—I lurve you, you know, I loave you, I loff you, two F’s, yes I have to invent, of course I—I do, don’t you think I do?”